American Filmpoem

A Series By R.W. Perkins

Sometimes it’s hard to find a reminder of what makes us who we are. As a child, I remember the comforting feeling of pride I had in my country. Of course, I was sheltered at that point, with no idea how complicated the world was, what America's history was, or the burdens that everyday life would bring. I always felt a sense of unity, of purpose, of achievement—that, as Americans, we had a moral sense of good. That compass, I felt, came from what connected us—day-to-day experience, love, pain, poverty, illness, sunsets, and romance. I'd heard it all in songs, I’d read about it in books, I’d seen it on the T.V., and then I experienced the truth of it all in real life. This film–poem series is about an America I know, one that is not spoken of in sides, but in familiar landscapes, music, and phrases.